Family Family

Family Family

Laurie Frankel

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

“Not all stories of adoption are stories of pain and regret. Not even most of them. Why don’t we ever get that movie?” India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero. Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do—she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie. Soon she’s at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi, from protesters on the right and advocates on the left. Her twin ten-year-olds know they need help–and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India’s not just an adoptive mother… The one thing she knows for sure is what makes a family isn’t blood. And it isn’t love. No matter how they’re formed, the truth about family is this: it's complicated.

Publication Year: 2024


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  • queen
    Aug 13, 2024
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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  • emolyn
    May 03, 2025
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  • bookgang
    Mar 30, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

     I have had a few false starts with this novel this year, but after revisiting This is How it Always Is for our book club, I knew I wanted to prioritize this story again. Frankel's quirky storytelling is magical, and I have seen this listed as a favorite among many readers I admire.

    In this new family drama, India Allwood, a successful actor and adoptive mother, becomes the target of online backlash after the release of Flower Child, a film about a woman who gives up her baby for adoption. Accused of exploiting trauma and perpetuating harmful narratives, she remains steadfast in her unapologetic stance on the topic—a quality that makes her both infuriating and deeply compelling.

    Fig, India's precocious fifth-grade daughter, takes it upon herself to find Rebecca, the daughter India gave up for adoption as a teenager, to prove her mother has more layers than expected. This unleashes a media frenzy of a different kind, excavating India's other decisions that examine adoption in new ways through several new characters that grow into an unlikely family that brings all of India's past together in some unexpected ways.

    Frankel's trademark wit shines, but the narrative occasionally falters when India's strong opinions take center stage and override the pacing. Adding in perspectives from the fathers in this story would have yielded a more dynamic reading experience and, perhaps, more nuance to these presented adoption stories. 

    Frankel's message about adoption—framed as a potential "win-win" for birth mothers and adoptive families—is a heartfelt and personal exploration, as she is the mother of an adopted child. I loved her earnest effort to highlight that literature often doesn't capture these joyful adoption stories. 

    While this story took some farfetched turns and felt repetitive, I appreciated the opportunity to reexamine deeply rooted feelings I didn't know I had harbored on adoption. It would be an excellent exploration for any book club, but it failed to capture my heart like Frankel's earlier work.

     TAG: Books About Adoption, Found Family

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